PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules
Old 15th Jul 2015, 11:04
  #3437 (permalink)  
teeteringhead

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Moon and back type distance or greater ?
Coff

Lots more at a guess - let's do some back of fag packet stuff.

Average distance to Moon is about 385 000 Km, so there and back is 770 000 Km which is about 415 000 nm.

So even with a modest overall average speed of say 250 kts (me simple rotary pilot - just guessing to get in the right ball park and make the sums easier ), that's fewer than 2000 hours (1660 to be precise).

And I'll bet the frames (not to mention lots of the crews!) have many many more than that. I understand some USAF C-130 frames have done 20 000 hrs (?), which would - on similar calculations - make 5 million nm or more than 9 million Km - or a quarter of the way to Venus at its (her?) closest.

So even with my rotary average of - say - 50 kts (all that hoverin' ye know), I've just about cracked the Moon and half way back. But of course, my nose bleeds above 1500 ft!

Edited to add:

I bow to Brian's superior sums! But we're in the same ball park.

Last edited by teeteringhead; 15th Jul 2015 at 11:06. Reason: Brian responded while I was on the calculator!!
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